Cossa Tames Wild in Griffins Victory, 4-1
DES MOINES, IA – Sebastian Cossa made 28 saves to lead the Grand Rapids Griffins to a 4-1 victory over the Iowa Wild on Friday. Tim Gettinger had two points for Grand Rapids to lead the offense. Louis Boudon netted the only goal of the night for Iowa.
The Griffins took the lead in the first period, scoring two goals. After neither team was able to find the back of the net through the first 18 minutes, Gettinger scored his eighth goal of the season with 2:02 left in the first frame. With Grand Rapids on the power-play, Austin Czarnik passed the puck into the center and right onto the stick of Gettinger, who lifted a wrist shot past Jesper Wallstedt to make it 1-0.
With 39 seconds left in the frame, Grand Rapids was able to extend their lead to two. This time it was Antti Tuomisto getting on the board, firing a shot from the right first face-off circle that found its way through traffic and past Wallstedt for his third tally of the season.
The Wild were down, but cut the deficit in half when Boudon scored his first AHL goal at 11:41. Casey Dornbach created a turnover inside the Grand Rapids zone. He then dished it to Boudon in the slot, who wristed a laser past Cossa to make it 2-1. That was the score at the end of two.
Iowa was back in the contest, and dominated much of the play through the first half of the third period. However, a pair of penalties proved to be costly, enabling Grand Rapids to extend their lead to three.
The first came at 10:40 with the Griffins on the power-play. Marco Kasper blasted a one-timer that Wallstedt made an incredible save on the shot. However, no one cleared out Joel L’Esperance, who put in the rebound for his 10th goal of the year.
With just under six minutes left in the contest Dominik Shine was hauled down on a breakaway. The referees awarded Grand Rapids the penalty shot and Shine delivered, scoring his fourth of the year.
Wallstedt finished with 19 saves, dropping to 11-8-2.
These teams will square off again on Saturday as Des Moines. The puck drops at 6:00.
by Robert Pannier
